Another South Dakota story I missed...Glad to see they're moving on tightening things up there as far as endless appeals go. We hardly get any South Dakota news up here in Fargo and we're only less than an hour away from the South Dakota border! We get more Minnesota news some days than North Dakota news...because all of our local TV stations and radio stations reach well into the NW corner of Minnesota; and the two larger dailies here in the eastern part of North Dakota have large circulations in the NW corner of Minnesota. So, we get a steady diet of news from the Minnesota capital than even the North Dakota capital.

Another South Dakota story I missed...Glad to see they're moving on tightening things up there as far as endless appeals go. We hardly get any South Dakota news up here in Fargo and we're only less than an hour away from the South Dakota border! We get more Minnesota news some days than North Dakota news...because all of our local TV stations and radio stations reach well into the NW corner of Minnesota; and the two larger dailies here in the eastern part of North Dakota have large circulations in the NW corner of Minnesota. So, we get a steady diet of news from the Minnesota capital than even the North Dakota capital.

We have the same problem where we live. We get more Texas news out of Amarillo, because they are closer to where we live than Oklahoma City. The weather is more accurate from Amarillo too, as they cover a 4 state area, OK, KS, TX and NM. We are only 100 miles from there, but 265 from OKC.

We are finally getting OKC news and Amarillo news now, from our digital TV service for about 2 years now. At last, we finally know what is going on in the state we live in.

" Closure? Closure is a misused word in the English language. There is no such thing as closure for the family of a murder victim. There will never be any closure for the death of our loved ones until we are dead ourselves. The families have a lifetime sentence of anguish and sadness." Susan Levy

PIERRE, S.D. (WTW) -- A measure aimed at preventing death-row inmates from filing repeated appeals in an effort to delay their executions won final approval Tuesday in the South Dakota Legislature.

The House voted 60-5 to approve a bill that had already cleared the Senate. The measure, suggested by Attorney General Marty Jackley, goes next to Gov. Dennis Daugaard for his signature.

The limits on appeals would apply to all serious criminal cases, but Jackley has said the restrictions are particularly needed in death penalty cases because some South Dakota cases have been tied up by appeals for nearly two decades.

Rep. Brian Gosch, R-Rapid City, said some people on death row have figured out how to manipulate the system to avoid being executed. He said the bill's changes in the appeals system could mean a death sentence is carried out within five to 10 years of a conviction.

People convicted of crimes in South Dakota can appeal their convictions and sentences to the state Supreme Court. They also can file secondary appeals, which generally argue that a convict's constitutional rights have been violated, often claiming that the convict's previous lawyers made mistakes.

The bill would limit convicts to one secondary appeal, unless new evidence is discovered or an appeals court recognizes a new constitutional right that would apply to the case. That secondary appeal also would have to be filed within two years of when the first direct appeal was decided or new evidence was discovered.

Jackley has said the bill's limits on secondary appeals are the same as those applied in 31 other states and the federal court system.

Rep. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, said the state needs to speed up executions to provide justice to families of murder victims.

"It's not our job to warehouse these threats to safety," Nelson said.

Supporters of the bill point to Donald Moeller, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1990 rape and murder of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls. Moeller continues to pursue an appeal in federal court.

In another case, Charles Russell Rhines continues appeals challenging his death sentence for the 1992 killing of Donnivan Schaeffer during a burglary of a Rapid City doughnut shop.

My reason for supporting the death penalty? A murderer has less of a right to live than his victim and already presents a danger while incarcerated for life. They have nothing to lose when the most they can get is Life in prison without parole.

Again, this story got totally missed by our media here in Fargo, N.D. Dennis Daugaard (pronounced DEW-guard) was South Dakota's lieutenant governor under now-former Gov. Michael Rounds, when South Dakota's first death row inmate in 60 years was executed in 2007.

I have no reason to believe that Gov. Daugaard won't sign this bill into law. It sounds like South Dakota's slowly getting back on the right track. South Dakota's only execution in the post-Furman era, of course was that of Elijah Page, who had waived the rest of his appeals and volunteered to be executed. Page's case hadn't even reached the federal courts and had languished in the South Dakota courts for 10 years prior to his execution.

So, to say the bill that now awaits Gov. Daugaard's signature is long overdue, would definitely be an understatement.

Hell I found it by tripping over it on pro DP .proboards.com so thats how i got it.

Yeah, I'm a member over there as well. I don't post all that often over there. The gal "Stormyweather" who posted the news story about the South Dakota House approving the bill lives in South Dakota. Sioux Falls, I think.

Let's just hope they won't say it can't be applied to inmates already on death row. Under those circumstances, I suppose the current occupants of death row could challenge it as being an ex post facto law. Maybe that's why both houses of the Legislature passed the bill with enough votes for it to be considered an emergency measure.

Such bills that have been passed as emergency measures generally hit the books immediately upon the governor's signature, and the filing of the signed enrolled bill with the secretary of state. An "enrolled bill" is a piece of legislation that has been passed by both the House and the Senate, been printed in final form, been signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, as well as signed by the governor.

The rest of the new bills that have been passed by both houses, without the two-thirds majority required for a bill to be considered an emergency measure, and been signed by the governor during a legislative session otherwise would become law on July 1st, unless a different enactment date is spelled out in a bill.

PIERRE, S.D.-- Five convicted murderers face execution in South Dakota, but one of the last added to death row wants to be first to face death by lethal injection.

Forty-nine-year-old Eric Robert pleaded guilty to killing prison guard Ronald Johnson and asked to be executed. But state law still requires the South Dakota Supreme Court to review the case and determine if the sentence is proper.

In a typical death-penalty case, the convict appeals the conviction and sentence, and that can take a decade or more to wind its way through the state and federal appeals systems. Robert's case is the first time the Supreme Court has dealt with a case in which the convict asked from the start to be executed. Robert's execution had been set for some time during the week of May 13, but the

Supreme Court has delayed that until it finishes the review required by state law.

This was designed to hurt....Its a SEAL Candace unless you have been there yo will never understand...

Apparently in South Dakota, the trial judge in a capital case has to set the week of execution right away. Eric Robert was formally sentenced to death, and the judge set the week of execution. However, in South Dakota, there is an automatic appeal in all death penalty cases to the state supreme court; and the court must review the case and determine if the death sentence is proper.

I don't see how the five justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court can find that the sentence is not proper. Eric Robert asked for a death sentence and the trial judge obliged. Indeed, this will be the first time in that the state supreme court has dealt with the case of a convict that has asked from the start to be executed.

A death-row inmate in South Dakota is challenging the state's single-drug execution protocol.

Charles Russell Rhines appeared in 7th Circuit Court on Tuesday to hear recorded testimony from health care experts about the one-drug method.

Rhines has been sentenced to death for the 1992 fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Donnivan Schaeffer during the burglary of a Rapid City doughnut shop. His conviction and death sentence was upheld in September, and now Rhines is challenging the constitutionality of the state's one-drug protocol.

A judge will rule on the legality at a later date.

Rhines can appeal the decision to the South Dakota Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Things are strange in S Dakota - one person owning up and facing his punishment....which is admirable has to through roughly the same process as a slimey toad who is trying to wriggle his way out of a lawful sentence.

I got news for him....'if a single shot of a drug was good enough to put my cat down after she developed health problems in old age peacefully, then pal, its sure as hell good enough for you, indeed, probaby better than you deserve. so man up - you did the crime, you knew the concequences - deal with it....'

i will get off my soap box now....

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players:They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many partsAs You Like It William Shakespeare

My reason for supporting the death penalty? A murderer has less of a right to live than his victim and already presents a danger while incarcerated for life. They have nothing to lose when the most they can get is Life in prison without parole.

The South Dakota Supreme Court has reveresed the death sentence for Rodney Berget.

Berget was sentenced to death by lethal injection last year for his role in the killing of correctional officer Ronald Johnson. Co-defendent Eric Robert was executed for the same crime in October.

Berget's case was argued before the South Dakota Supreme Court on October 1, 2012. In a 63-page written opinion, the justices have reversed the death sentence because they say the circuit court should not have considered statements Berget made to a psychiatrist.